Kidnapped?

Something happened......

I got kidnapped to a family with two hooman pups,


The gurrrrrl hooman pup really loves me,


And I really love her too and let her do anything to me.....


How do you think this happened???

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Did I fool you???

This is me, (pictured at age 10)


This is my brother, Winston, (pictured at age 10)


This is me, (pictured at age 10)


This is my brother Winston, (pictured at age 10)


This is me and Winston almost 11 years ago on the day that we were leaving the breeder's house. We were picked up on the same day. (Pictured at 8 weeks)



Mum and Winton's parents had recently reconnected and shared stories about us. To sum up our personalities in 3 words:

Winston: Calm, Easy-Going, Mellow
Sunshade: Calm, Demanding, Dominant

Winston was his parent's only child for the first 7 years, and then he welcomed his hooman pup sister, Clair, and then later on hooman brother Ian. He lets them crawl all over him, pull on his ears, take food from his bowl, and basically do anything to him. His dad says he has been a dream with the kids.

(mum: Sunshade and Winston are identical with their fluffy sheep coats!!! It's good that the breeder gave them Winston and not Miss Sunshade LOL! The breeder did puppy testing on the pups when they were 8 weeks old to help her place them in appropriate homes. I remember Winston was the runt of the litter that the breeder hand fed a few extra meals just to make sure he got just as much nutrients as the rest of the pups. He tested very mellow and most relaxed and forgiving. Miss Sunshade on the other hand tested more towards dominant side of things as I recall.

Other than food allergies (which Sunshade has), Winston has been in great health. He too just turned 11, and was still mountain biking with his dad during the summer. I can't stress enough how important a proper diet is to a growing pup. Yes Sunshade has been on a great diet over the last 9 years or so, but she ate grocery brand kibble during the most important stage of her life (first 2 years). That along with other mistakes I'd made (ie, agility at 7 months & got injured) from not educating myself at the time has her paying for it her entire life.... Jaffa's sire is another brother of the same litter. He had the proper wiry coat, hence was kept by the breeder for show and breeding. He has been healthy according to the breeder. Of course, my Jaffaman with his natural rearing since 8 weeks of age, has been completely healthy in the 4 years I've had him.

Sunshade came from a breeder in Port Angeles, WA. So Winston and his family have actually lived in Seattle all this time (where were you Facebook in 1999??). Once Sunshade gets better, we'll try to get the brother/sister together!!)

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Lastly, we again would just like to THANK all my blog friends, my non-blog friends (Ellen, Dora, Sharon, Shannon, Evian, Jun, Pinot, Jaspa, Jed & Abby, Sarah & Daisy, Barbara & Chili, Kathleen & Woody, and all the rest that I have missed), for all the kind words you have left for us.

I will do my SuperBEST to look after mum and keep her smiling. (mum: and I will do my best to stay positive, live in the moment, and help Sunshade beat the ugly C as well as her other ailments! I am taking Sunshade down to Seattle on Wednesday, Dec 1st to see an Internist about her Cushings, as well as an oncologist to talk about the STS.)

Special note to Barbara & Chili:

Thank you for the nice comment you have left us, sorry we have no way of contacting you.... First of all, we would like to say a big congratulations on getting clean margins on the nononoma (mum: melanoma). I hope your Manuka Honey will do you healing magic like it has done me. Please make sure you use a non-stick gauze so that when you change the dressing, it doesn't pull off new tissue growth. (mum: you might also consider applying a thin layer rather than a thick layer as the honey will drip and you will end up with a hairy sticky-dale, sticky sofa, sticky beds, sticky kitchen floor, sticky carpet!!!)

All the best!

Love nibbles,
Miss Sunshade (and mum)

11th B-Day Celebration

I am E-L-E-V-E-N years old TODAY!!! That's 4015 days old in case you were wondering.


Yes that's a stash of foodies in front of my bootiful face, and I was very happy. I'm going to show you how we got there....

After we came back from Cypress Mountain, mum and D-Guy got busy in the kitchen. Now you all remember that mum recently ABANDONED me, and she came back Micky and Minnie Mouse crazy right???

This was how we celebrated STINKY's birfday on the 13th,


Well she bought these while she was ABANDONING us,



She started making egg white patties for us using Micky head mold,


I supervised and gave her suggestions, mainly on how to be faster,

(mum: I think the mold was meant to be used with something of a thicker consistency, like pancake mix. The egg whites were a little runny and it seeped a little. We just had to use scissors to trim the edges after it finished cooking.)


I waited patiently beside mum,


STINKY knows kitchen is off limits for him when I'm around, my SuperPOWER!!


Periodically, the trimmed off pieces fall into my SuperMOUF!


STINKY got some too, not sure why. It wasn't his birfday or anything.


Next was the salmon pattie being cooked,


When it was done, it was stacked on top of the egg white pattie,


Blended liver being prepped,


Liver pattie in the making!


Liver patties done and stacked up,


Then they made some raw beef patties,


The finished product!! 11 layers of patties, one for each year!!!


STINKY only got 4 layers because he's FOUR, haha! Now that I look at it, why was my stack mostly egg white patties and STINKY's was all meat??


(mum: shhhh.... but Miss Sunshade actually only got one salmon pattie, one raw beef pattie, one egg (with yolk) pattie, and half a liver pattie. The rest were all egg white patties since egg whites are one of the best bioavailable proteins out there. You can't really over feed cooked egg whites as it has no fat, moderate amount of protein, low in phosphorous (easy on organs), and its highly digestible protein. If you do choose to feed raw eggs/egg whites, you do want to make sure you don't feed too much as the raw egg white will bind to biotin (a B vitamin) in the body and cause biotin deficiency.)

Top view of my 11-layer Minnie Mouse Burger,


Top view of his very little layer Micky Mouse Burger,


Mine looks WAY cooler with the extra height and all!


Then, it was picture time... of course..


She made me pose for like EVER!


Finally I said screw this, I'm eating it, and took a bite out of my 11-layer Minnie Burger!!!


Look at me - now look at the burger - now back at me - can you really blame a face that you wish you could have?? (Inspired by Old Spice)


To make things worse, since STINKY didn't get his celebration foodies on his birfday (mum: that was the day after Sunshade was dx with STS..), I had to celebrate MY birfday WITH him.....



Can I eat yet??


One more......


FINALLY!!!

You guys remember last year, my 10th B-Day, I had a 10 dish buffet din din? Well I've recently watched the video so I could improve on my eating techniques. Honestly, I was SHOCKED! I couldn't believe how SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW I was eating. There must have been something wrong with me back then!!

(mum: For anyone who is interested, you can watch Sunshade's 10th B-Day dinner video here. Well the first half of it at least, since she took forever to eat. However, that is actually the normal, healthy Sunshade. The way she'd been up until early this year. Sunshade was never really a food hound, and there were many things she would put before food. She had always enjoyed little bits and pieces of our food, but when it was time for her to eat her own food, she needed A LOT of coaxing. Coaxing as in adding treats on top of her food, adding a different treat on top if the first ones failed, and spoon feeding her. The way she is acting now with food is all because of her Cushings Disease. It is kind of scary to see how a disease can change a dog completely.....)

Ok, I don't know if you guys noticed, but I finished 11 patties in the time that STINKY finished ONE!


(mum: Jaffa is my delicate eater, he's pretty picky at times, a lot like Sunshade when she wasn't inflicted with Cushings (she was never "delicate", but was picky).)

Here's a quick recap:





I checked STINKY's plate too to make sure he didn't waste any food,


I asked mum if that was it for my 11th B-Day (like no 11 course buffet waiting for me?),


She told me YES... unfortunately.

Then I realized that mum and D-Guy put in a lot of work into making those patties (mum: Derek said a game of chain reaction Dominoes would have lasted longer LOL), so it was my dogterly duty to try to help them clean up.


Here I was given the job to clean the cutting board,


After we finished cleaning up, it was pressie time. Although I was really wanting to go and make the kitchen spotless if you know what I mean.


Here are my pressies from mum, D-Guy, and Maggieeeeeeeeeee! The pink Piglet ball was from mum, she got it in Disneyworld. Scooby Doo was from D-Guy, mum bought it in Universal Studios for D-Guy to give it to me. Last but not least, the nicely wrapped pressie from my bestest gurrrrlfriend, Maggie!


Here I was opening Maggie's pressie,




LOOK! It's a cute bun bun Wubba!! Thank you Maggie!!


STINKY got pressies too. You can see more of his pictures on his bloggie .


Then I saw D-Guy in the kitchen, so I watched him intently,


In case he needed help or something you know?


Me and my little fat Piglet,


Then mum showed me my birfday card from my dearest Grandpa!!


He writes me a card for my birfday every year, and it always arrives ON my birfday unless its a weekend. Grandpa writes in Chinese, so mum has to explain to me,


This year, Grandpa wrote:

Dear Sunshade,

Happy birthday. I hope all your ailments will get better. You know everybody loves you and cares about you a lot. We all wish you well. I will pray for you.

Wishing you health and happiness,
Grandpa

(mum: My dad told me he went to see a Buddhist regarding Sunshade. He said the Buddhist (a woman) told him that Sunshade is a good soul, and we are all good people. She said she will protect her and not let her suffer, and when its time for her next life, she will let her return as a person and not an animal.

I'm not a very religious person as in, I don't go to churches or temples, but I would like to believe there is a higher power, and I do sometimes pray to keep my mind at ease. My dad is more religious, and it was very sweet of him to go see the Buddhist about Sunshade. He is the best dad, has always been, and he loves Sunshade a lot.)

I just want to show you my birfday card from Grandpa last year. You see, the big pretty doggie in front with the MUSCLE BUTT was labelled "Sunshade", by Grandpa. The little doggie behind that is carrying a present (for me) was labelled "STINKY". STINKY was saying "Happy Birthday" (to me), while I was just walking and saying "it's MY Birthday"!!


The card reads:

To the dearest and cutest Sunshade,

Wishing you a Happy Birthday. Your lovable demeanor has people loving you even more with the passing of each year. Our hearts ache when we see you in pain. The weather is getting cooler, are you comfortable? Will it snow soon?

Does STINKY often make you mad still?? Do you tell him off a lot? Is STINKY still afraid of you?? I really wish you happiness and health, and again a very happy birthday.

Happy Birthday Sunshade!

From, Grandpa who loves you the most

HAHAHA, don't you find the STINKY part really funny??? The answer is YES, YES, YES to all three questions!!

Thank you for all your birfday wishes to me, we are finished with November birfdays now..... Until next year.... Hope you've had a great Thanksgiving spending time with your loved ones.